The make-up of a book

Prelims & end matter: a short guide

April's newsletter is for publishing hopefuls and anyone that wants to find out about the role of an editor.

I'm going to explain some of the first things you will learn on the job – the make-up of a book.

Generally, there are three main parts. These are the prelims, main pages and the end matter. Prelims can also be called front matter, early matter or simply first pages.?The prelims and end matter may be referred to together as the extra pages.

Prelims refer to the pages that come before the main body of the book. Typically, they include endpapers, a half-title page, a title page, the imprint/acknowledgements page, and the contents. Every publisher will treat these pages slightly differently – there isn't a set rule for how they have to be in every book across every format. They can be adapted based on the needs of the book and the demands of the page plan (also called a flat-plan).

Before I start explaining more, it’s important to note that many young books don’t include extra pages, simply because the main pages start immediately, on the inside of the cover. Board books for example include necessary info on their covers.

Okay, let’s go!

Endpapers are mostly included in hardback books. The first single page of the endpapers is stuck down to the inside front cover and the last page of the endpapers is stuck down to the inside of the back cover. Often the paper used here is a little thicker than the rest of the book. Sometimes they will be illustrated with images but mostly they will be a block of colour that in some way links to the front cover.?They can add an element of specialness and are an opportunity to add another nice element to a book.

The half-title page is the very first page of the book (after the endpapers) and is always on a right hand page. It contains the title of the book and often an image. This page is often dropped to save space.?

Page 2, which is always a left-hand page, is on the reverse of the half-title page. It can be blank or it may contain the imprint/acknowledgements. The imprint/acknowledgements can also sit at the back of the book (as part of the end matter) depending on the design and preferences of the publisher – or on page 4, on the reverse of the title page.

Page 3, which is always a right-hand page, is the title page. It will include details such as the title of the book plus the names of any important contributors. Typically, the publisher's logo is placed on this page, too.?

The imprint/acknowledgements page (also called the copyright page) contains information about the publisher/imprint, the date of the book's publication as well its publication history. It also includes copyright information, the assertion of moral rights and any limits of sale, cataloging data, the ISBN and the details of the printer. It may also include information about the paper used in the book (if it is printed on sustainable material, for example). Each publisher will have this information in a template that will be placed and then checked by an editor to make sure it includes all relevant and necessary information.

Picture acknowledgements are often included on this page if there is space. If it’s a long book (for example a 512-page encyclopaedia) with many credits to include, a whole page or multiple pages might be needed (in which case they would become part of the end matter). Acknowledgements contain credits for any artwork or photographs used inside the book.

Lastly we have the contents page/s. The list of contents will almost always start on a right-hand page. It will list the title and page number of every page that has a title, including the index and glossary.

The end matter of a book contains any supplementary material that falls outside of the main pages, for example answer pages (if the book contains quiz questions), an index and a glossary. It is also a place to include other information such as relevant links to websites or author/artist biographies.

Typically, the main pages of a book (also called the working pages) are designed first, followed by the prelims and end matter – this is because the main pages inform much of their content. You can’t complete an index, for example, until the main pages are final as text could be cut or images could be moved.

If you go to a bookshop and look at a bunch of titles, you will see that they mostly follow the above, but there will be differences – especially in younger titles that have to make clever use of space.

That’s all for now folks!

Any questions, drop me an email :) [email protected], and if you want a full editorial training to help you launch into children's books, check out: www.clairephilip.com/editorial-training